The son of local tomato farmers, future Hollywood legend Sidney Poitier left his native Cat Island as a 10-year-old in 1937, when his family moved to Nassau, Bahamas. And not much has changed on the stunning and secluded Bahamian cay in the nine decades since – except you might stumble across a Sports Illustrated shoot on its pink sand beaches.

Only 1.6 km wide at its slimmest point, Cat Island’s one main road runs 77 km, north to south. Shaped like a boot that resembles Italy, the island is peppered with villages, each a small cluster of modest, brightly painted bungalows augmented with a grocery shop, a gas station, a simple restaurant or two and always a whitewashed, one-room church (plus many, many potholes!). There are no big resorts, chain brands, tourist hordes or traffic – just a few simple, privately owned hotels with no more than eight rooms, and a handful of beach houses available as holiday lets. 

Though just south of jet setty Eleuthera and Harbour Island, Cat Island is still happily free of development. With its population of 1,600 spread across 389 km², you’ll need to find a conch shack or a seaside bar to locate a crowd. This is an island for travellers who find more luxury in endless, pristine and deserted beaches than in high-end resorts with a Nobu off the lobby. 

A remote island rich in history, Cat was originally home to the Lucayans – the Bahamian Indigenous people, first encountered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. The Spanish managed to eradicate them in less than three decades, thanks to kidnapping, enslavement and viruses to which the islanders had no immunity, leaving the island uninhabited for 100 years. 

But then, following a rollicking era where Cat was thought to be a haven for international piracy ( the island was allegedly named after Arthur Catt, a British buccaneer who stashed his treasure here), the English arrived in the 1780s. Rewarded by King George III with Bahamian land grants after the loss of the American Revolution, thousands of exiled British Loyalists sailed in, keen to recreate their southern plantations in the tropics. However, the island soil couldn’t sustain their sisal, sugar cane and cotton farms and, once England abolished slavery in its colonies in 1834, most people gave up and left, leaving behind a community of newly emancipated slaves. The vine-covered, fieldstone ruins of those estates are scattered across the rolling hills and rocky outcrops of the island’s south end to this day.

Another relic is The Hermitage, a century-old stone monastery built by hand by Father Jerome, an English architect and priest, who hauled every rock up the steep incline as a hardscrabble tribute to God. A hike up to this charming, blue-shuttered building perched on the top of Mount Alvernia, which is the highest peak in the Bahamas at 63 metres, offers panoramic views across an infinite, peacock-coloured ocean. The vista is perfect for a midday picnic or sunset drinks.

No longer pumping out cotton and sugar cane, Cat’s main industry today is Croton eluteria or cascarilla, a fragrant tree bark prized by the Italians as a key ingredient in Campari and vermouth. The other prominent practice is fishing – locals trawl the deep blue waters off of Reef Harbour, which is edged by a magnificent 3.3-kilometre reef that teems with fresh snapper, wahoo, tuna and lobster to supply Nassau’s glitzy resorts. A secluded south-end cove here offers the island’s finest diving and snorkelling, sea turtles, rays and colourful fish weaving in and out of vast coral gardens. 

Along the island’s gusty windward shore, wind- and kite-surfing aficionados head for Greenwood Beach where a PADI-accredited dive shop is equipped with lessons and all the gear you’ll need. Just inland, visitors can explore a network of blue holes, large inland lakes and healing salt ponds. 

As proposed developments come and go – most recently an 18-hole, PGA-rated golf resort – locals cast a wary eye toward Nassau with its hotel towers and crime. Laidback Cat Islanders take things low and slow, thank you very much, preferring that their idyllic, undeveloped island stays that way. 

No one here is looking for Nobu.

Eating & Drinking

A bright blue, plywood shack overlooking an even bluer lagoon, Da Pink Chicken Beach Bar is owned by Dean a long-time American resident. Pulling fresh conch out of the water and tossing the shells on an enormous heap, his Bahamian wife, Patie, turns out a super-fresh menu of cracked conch, conch fritters and conch salad. Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Da Pink Chicken is operational from 2:00 p.m. until sunset. Sunday is the big weekly gathering for locals, expats and hotel owners who often bring guests. 

For fresh lobster, your choice of boiled or grilled, it’s Hidden Treasures, where owner-chef Trevor is well known for dishing out some of the island’s tastiest local food. Caramelized plantains, BBQ shrimp, creamy cabbage slaw, blackened fish, jerk chicken and more areall washed down with delicious mango daiquiris or an ice-cold Kalik, the Bahamian beer. 

For a gourmet experience, book lunch or dinner at Shannas Cove with its Michelin-rated chef (November to April), great wine list and terrific views from the property’s hilltop dining room and terrace.

Da Smoke Pot, a north-end beach shack bar and eatery, features live bands. Rake-and-scrape, the music of The Bahamas, was born on Cat Island. A vestige of life from the era when Africans were brought over as slaves, ingenious instruments fashioned from whatever is available – conch shell horns, goat skin stretched over oilcan drums, saws scraped with a piece of metal (thus the name) – contribute to its unique sound.

 

Where To Stay

Shannas Cove, a five-cottage resort on the island’s north coast, is the Cat Island’s most sophisticated hotel. You can land on their huge private beach in a seaplane and request chilled champagne upon arrival. 

On the cozier end, the mid-island Pigeon Cay Beach Club, built in the 1990s by the Colorado couple who still run it, offers half a dozen rustic beachfront bungalows and a palapa-topped honour bar overlooking the deep, glass-clear waters of a stunning beach lined with mature shade trees.

Greenwood Beach Resort at the south end of the island is a simple hotel on a truly gorgeous stretch of beach that goes on forever. The go-to spot for sporty travellers, the tawny, young French couple who run the place, Antoine and Paulina, excel in diving, snorkelling and kite- or wind- surfing (including lessons) and full Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) certification. 

Events

A big deal that draws thousands of guests, Cat’s three-day Rake & Scrape Festival takes place every June. The Island’s annual regatta, a race of 40 or so sloops, takes place in late July or early August; it was founded by four-time Olympic sailor Godfrey Kelly and is now in its 68th year.